EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

The rabbits have indeed returned! Well, I suppose they never actually left. Still! They need your help with a very special mission: To repair their rocket, shut down the force field around Delta V, and make their final escape! Prepare yourself for this incredible new missions created by One Winged Angel and Ranloth, with content created by Bidoof, Vorzathiel, SarpDV, and Vultex!

CAUTION! The "Hardcore" mission chain "Bundorable Chores" is very difficult. Some missions require many, many wins or item drops to complete so only undertake them if you have plenty of time. Fortunately, they aren't leaving so you can take your time if you're not in a hurry to complete every mission as soon as possible.

These new items are available from Brachylagus in the Archives. However, some items are only available through completing some very difficult missions in the "Bundorable Chores" mission chain!

Rabbit Ride

What this new bike lacks in fluff, it makes up for in ferocity! Tear up the Biological Preserve with this awesome new Skeletal Bunny Bike available at Brachylagus!

Easter Stylings

Look your Easter best with these hip new styles that all the kids are talking about. I assume they're talking about them. I'm with it, yo! *cracks hip*

Home Decor

Do you like eggs? Bidoof and SarpDV have created a host of egg-based items to beautify your homes for the season. The Bunny Egg Bank is available exclusively from completing the "Nuclear Omelette" mission.

War Pushback

To prevent the next war (The Wasteland) from overlapping with the Rabbits Return event, we have postponed the war event until April. This will allow everyone plenty of time to complete the missions without sensory overload.

Rabbits Return Part 2

Stay tuned for next week's continuation of the Rabbits Return event! What surprises and treasures await those clever and brave enough to serve the Lagomorphs?!

The snow is melting, the trees are blooming, the grass is green...but on Delta V all of those could mean very bad things are coming! In this case, there are no mutant spores to speak of or subterranean cyber-bugs, but adventure is still very, very near, arriving just in time for Easter!

This latest event Rabbits Return, the brainchild of Ranloth and One Winged Angel, will focus on the trials of the interstellar lagomorphs (sentient aliens that really, REALLY look like rabbits from Earth) that have been trapped on Delta V for years.

Aid Myxoma, Brachylagus, Mr. Cottontail, Lepus, and Capensis as they attempt another escape. Will they uncover the secrets of the deadly field preventing disgruntled colonists from fleeing Delta V. Will they resign themselves to their fate and become a part of their adopted homeworld? Will Electrohazard finally have that jumbo order of rabbit stew he's always dreamed about?

Find out next week during part 1 of this epic new saga!

Ye Olde Hardecore!

Ranloth has something very nasty in mind for this event. Because some players find our standard missions far too easy, he's planned several hardcore missions geared toward the most dedicated players. Phenomenal rewards await those brave enough to undertake these hardest of the hardcore missions! Be warned, undertaking these missions will require some time

In the Meantime...

There's no new release today, but there's still plenty to see and do on Delta V. For those not paying attention, the Biological Preserve shops are fully stocked with NEW seasonal goodies!

Grab the awesome Botanical Weapons from Xraal in the Biological preserve! Warning: NOT safe for allergy sufferers (jk it's all digital. BREATHE all you want!)

Hop next door (pun intended) to check out the returning Bunny gear! The Ballistic Bunny Bot is one of my all-time favorites!

More lagomorphic and lethal weapons are coming your way next week, along with new missions and achievements! Stay tuned to the Twittervers for more WIPs and the latest information on the Rabbits Return event as it unfolds!

Think of the Future...

We've got a BIG announcement soon. I know it's really, really mean to make a post like this without immediate follow-up information, but we can't formally make this announcement until we're absolutely, 100% ready.

Enjoy the luckiest Friday the 13th in ages by picking up St. Patrick's and Celtic-themed gear available from Naomi!

These beauties were crafted with care by SlayertheKraken, Theon, and Bidoof!

Deadly Decor

Decorate your walls and floors with a fine selection of new items including Dage-themed decorations and new banks!

New Dailies!

Be sure to check for new Daily Missions created by Ranloth for fantastic rewards! For those who don't know or occasionally forget, Daily Missions are a great way to earn Credits and Arcade Tokens without grinding out dozens of PvP or NPC battles.

The Guest Team Grows!

We would like to extend a hearty Delta V welcome to new Guest Artist Theon and Guest Writer Silver Sky Magician who formally joined the team and are hard at work to produce new content for all to enjoy (Theon created weapons for this release)! Say "hello" to them in game if you bump into them.

Lucky Number 13!

The Friday the 13th achievement now available! Grab it before it vanishes!

Bunny Time!

Easter is just around the corner so you know what that means -- deadly bunnies of DOOM! This is just a small preview of what awaits in the epic new event coming to a Biodome near you!

Infernal Android will still gain 5% damage per round, but will max out at 125% damage. This keeps the damage roughly on par with previous values.

Skill Trees for all classes except for Tech Mages (yours was already awesome!) have been adjusted. Note that skills have not been added to or removed from any class.

Atom Smasher

Now unblockable

Energy cost increased by 30 at all levels

Shadow Arts

Damage reduction increased by 5% at all levels

Venom Strike

Energy cost lowered by 10 at all levels

Poison damage increased by 10 at all levels

Cooldown increased from 2 to 3

Toxic Grenade

Cooldown increased from 2 to 3

BUGS FIXED:

Fixed an issue with the Daily Code Champion Achievement

Bot damageBaby/Dark Yeti now deal 150 damageBaby/Dark Yeti Warrior now deal 160 damageGolden Yeti stays at 180 damageAll other bots now deal 170 damageInfernal Android will still gain 5% damage per round, but will max out at 125% damage. This keeps the damage roughly on par with previous values.Skill trees for all classes except for Tech Mages (yours was already awesome!) have been adjusted. Note that skills have not been added to or removed from any class.Atom SmasherNow unblockableEnergy cost increased by 30 at all levelsShadow ArtsDamage reduction increased by 5% at all levelsVenom StrikeEnergy cost lowered by 10 at all levelsPoison damage increased by 10 at all levelsCooldown increased from 2 to 3Toxic GrenadeCooldown increased from 2 to 3

Return to the Afterlife to complete the second part of the second Heartbreaker saga! The Necronauts Paz and Clemek are more unhinged than ever as their time away from the world of the living has drained their humanity and sanity! Challenge them to a battle of wits and brawn from beyond the grave in this exciting conclusion to this saga!

This epic update comes with THREE achievements. One for completing the chain, one for beating the boss, and one for completing the super-secret BONUS mission! Well, it's not so secret. It's actually in your mission...nevermind.

Moar Missions

This release will also feature brand new missions created by Ranloth! We intended to release them as dailies, but it looks like one of the chains BloodHawk Training slipped into the regular mission category. This will be corrected in the next release, allowing you to complete it again and again!

Necrotic Armaments

The Necronauts have been in the Afterlife long enough to develop some interesting hobbies -- weaponcraft, to be specific. Visit Clemek to browse his inventory of Void creations, including the Necronaut Armor!

Just don't fog up the dome with too much necroplasm. You'll feel all...funky.

Necro-Stylin'

Access the style-change interface to try some Necronaut and Endless styles!

Finally satisfy that need to be a disfigured skull-head man (or woman). What's the hose attached to? Only Paz knows for sure.

War Update

You may have noticed this most recent war is lasting an awfully long time. We've noted this. With the War 2.0 system, we built a feature to balance the duration of the war based on the previous war's duration. The last war occured during the holiday season, a time when our activity spikes unusually high. This made the war end very, very quickly, causing the system to say, "HEY! These players need a REAL challenge!" Thus, the next war was adjusted based on those extreme numbers.

Now, we are in a state in which the total points needed to win the war are much too high. The war would go on for months at this rate. Thus, to shorten the duration, we will be reducing the total points needed to win.

No personal scores will be reduced. No one side will receive an artificial advantage.

The positive effects are that participating players will receive their prizes sooner. We will also be able to reach the next war region early Spring rather than early Summer!

Balance

We will be performing a substantial and much needed balance update next week. We planned on balance improvements this week, but ultimately, we decided we would need more time to test the proposed changes. We will keep you updated on the proposed changes as they are closer to being locked in.

The events of Frozen Fury ripped a hole in space and time, allowing travel into a realm beyond life and death. Journey into the Afterlife to learn more about the mysterious and powerful Necronauts Paz and Clemek. What is their purpose? How are they able to travel between worlds? Are they human or something beyond comprehension?

You will begin your journey into the great hereafter at a familiar face: Negawraith.

He will guide you to investigate some mysterious disturbances around the nearby Guard Outpost ruins. Longtime players will recall in the original Heartbreaker Saga, Administrator 12 was planning a coup to dethrone Alydriah and restore sanity to the Legion. Unfortunately, Administrator 11, Alydriah's brother and weapon of mass destruction, killed Administrator 12 in his office. His smoldering shoes and golden gun remain as a reminder from Alydriah to show what happens to those who would betray her.

The guards have been hearing noises...voices...that they can't explain. This line of inquiry will lead you to Frysteland to a portal leading to the Afterlife: a realm between life and death and home to billions of souls.

Aldhagrimm's sacrifice may have prevented The Endless from going rogue and destroying the world, but it also opened a tear to the Afterlife. Inside, you'll find some familiar faces...

...and some not so familiar faces.

Complete this first part of the event to earn a new Void Explorer achievement.

Gear UP!

A certain familiar NPC in the Afterlife will have a massive inventory of new Heartbreaker/Void gear! Stock on these seasonal rares as they will only be available for a limited time! Check out this comprehensive list of the new items available!

Valentine's Sword P/E

Metallic Heart Blades P/E

Metallic Heart Maul P/E

Metallic Heart Staff P/E

Valentine's Saber P/E

Heartbeat Sword P/E

Heartbeat Blades P/E

Heartbeat Mace P/E

Heartbeat Staff P/E

Endless Armor

For those who have access to the coveted The Endless shop, the color custom version of The Endless Armor has arrived!

This version have no cores preinstalled so you can completely customize it to your liking.

You can even make it completely pink...if that's your thing. I'm not here to judge.

Lucky Friday the 13th!

Collect the Friday the 13th achievement available in the achievement shop for a limited time!

We hope you all enjoy this epic release which should go live shortly. This release is PACKED with content created by our talented guest team, with content from 2046808, Goony, Tomcat, Bidoof, Vultex, Overlord Drekon, and SarpDV! Join us next week as we continue the saga with more mission content from Ranloth (Trans) and OWA! Enjoy your weekend and Duel On!

The coveted Heartbreaker/Azrael items have returned once again! Visit the Alydroid in Fortune City to explore its shop of sensational seasonal rares, available NOW!

These are some of my favorite items in all of EpicDuel so I'm always excited to see them return. They also happen to possess some of the most powerful cores to entice those who value power over aesthetics.

Remember, these are seasonal rares with some being limited quantity. They will leave so be sure to stock up while you can! However, these aren't the only seasonal content coming to EpicDuel. In fact, we're in the process of planning the next major event...

Heartbreaker Saga 2: Electric Boogaloo

Prepare for this new epic event launching Friday, February 13!

This event will take place in the mysterious realm between life and death known as the Void. Many of Delta V's cititzens were banished here by Baelius in a desperate attempt to crush the uprising decades ago.

This realm is vast so although it is home to countless beings, they are very distant from each other making this a very lonely, but awe-inspiring, place.

Some happen into the Void through technology, some through death, but escaping is a complicated matter. Those who were born into the Void view the incursion of humans as a nuisance at best and a plague at worst. Humans are unique in their curiously and desire to understand and manipulate the Void to their will. Void Creatures want seek to maintain balance in this realm lest it become infected by outsiders. Some are friendlier than others, but their loyalties are always to the Void above all else.

Join us for this exciting event as we reveal the mysterious of the Void and it's inhabitants...some of whom may be familiar to you.

"The Big Game" Returns!

Are you ready...FOR SOME FOOTBALL?!

For those of you international players, we're refering to American Football or Hand Soccer as it's otherwise known. This Sunday the SeaMonsters will do battle with the Patreons...as far as I recall. I'm bad at sports talk. Anyway, I'm sure the commercials will be expensive!

Celebrate this event with the "Big Game" achievement available NOW in the achievement shop.

The War Wages On!

There is another battle raging this weekend: the battle for The Barrens Outpost!

After a strong start, the Legion forces gave way to the persistent Exiles. There's still plenty of time for that to change as every war tends to surprise with its final outcome.

It's still too early to call and there's a lot more dueling to do so don't give up! For Order! For Freedom! Duel On!

Did you know last week that EpicDuel upgraded several of the servers that run the game? If you're not familiar, a server is a computer that hosts the game and makes it available to players all around the world. Just like your technology and computers at home, servers become outdated. The new EpicDuel servers have significantly faster processors and more memory than the old ones.

For you, this upgrade will mean less server-lag and better in game performance. You probably didn't know that in addition to the servers you see on the EpicDuel server-select screen, there are other important computers that keep the game running. These include our webserver which hosts the EpicDuel website and our database servers which store all of your player data and account related information.

Last week we actually moved several of the servers to new machines and you probably didn't even notice. While this move has been mostly transparent so far, there are several things going on behind the scenes technically that require our full focus.

This week, we're going to be moving two of our database servers to new computers. Because we want to ensure all player data is safe during this transition, we're going to bring the game offline each time. We intend to bring the game down once on Monday in the later afternoon EST for about an hour, and again early in the morning on Tuesday EST for up to 3 hours. Later in the week. Watch our twitters for the most recent update!

If all goes well, we'll have the game back online faster than that, but we want to allow plenty of time to make sure everything is perfect when you login. These upgrades will help with better performance, improved security, and should ultimately provide a better gaming experience for ED players.

Thanks for your patience and understanding as we finish up this transition!

After a long holiday truce between Legion and Exile forces, war resumes on Delta V. The war for the fate of the Barrens Outpost begins today! The Legion will battle to defend the powerful Barrens Turret Array while the Exile will attempt to undermine their control through hacking terminals.

Hacking terminals are already scattered throughout the Barrens Outpost. Set your starting location for quick access to these crucial war points.

The prize at stake is the Barrens Turret Array. Access the Control Panel, control the Barrens. Those who faught against Dravax and the Dragonoid remember the potency of these mighty guns. If they can wound an interdimensional dragon they'll have no problem turning an armada into scrap.

Win PvP battles to earn war drops and boost the score of your alignment! The Legion took the last region; can they continue their winning streak or will the Exiles emerge triumphant?

Remember that this is also an opportunity to earn Barrens Outpost influence to build up your regional achievement! Let's see some red stars!

New Year's Loot

Guest artist Bidoof has crafted a timely set of New Year's gear available at Torgan in Frysteland!

It's a new year and we're already rushing out the gate with new features! The first is a new, reimagined gifting system! Rather than rehash the existing gift system, we've combined the excitement of giving gifts with the awesome power of PRIZE CODES!

With this new feature, accessible from the Varium shop, you will be able to create your very own prize code!

Choose your code, choose your prize time, choose your quantity, and share the code in game and on social networks! All your generated codes, including the number of redemptions remaining will be stored within this interface for quick reference.

NOTE: I should hope it goes without saying, but using inappropriate language in your codes will result in moderator action.

Pit your generosity against your fellow Duelists with competative daily and all-time leaderboards. These boards will track the number of code redemptions so you'll need to be craft to organize your buddies, fans, and followers to claim as many codes as possible. You'll also be rewarded with daily and all-time achievements!

Fame 2015

For the longest time, the Fame system in EpicDuel was completely external from the game client. This made the system vulnerable to exploits and very difficult to manage. Now, we've finally incorporated fame into the game client which will allow you to fame your friends and foes in and out of battle!

Click your friend, and click the arrow! Easy!

After you receive fame, you will receive a toast informing you that you were famed by another player. Be sure to fame them back and say, "Thanks!" Please don't beg for fame, though, as you can be reported for griefing/spamming. Please fame responsibly.

With this long-awaited revamp, we hope that this feature can become a more fair and engaging part of EpicDuel.

New Daily Missions

Guest Writer Trans has crafted several new daily mission chains! Sharpen your blades and load your bazookas as you come to the aid of the denizens of Delta V for great rewards! Be sure to check the Daily Missions tab to see the currently available mission.

New Year, New Loot

Visit The Endless' shop in Frysteland (assuming you've already unlocked it) to pick up some new seasonal, limited rares designed by Reki, T0mcat, and Revontheus!

If you've already got swords aplenty, then decorate your home with new interactive bobble heads based on your favorite EpicDuel NPCs!